MLB Player News

Diamondbacks first baseman Paul Goldschmidt wasted little time Wednesday getting Arizona on the scoreboard, as he connected for a two-run homer off Padres starting pitcher Brandon Morrow in the bottom of the first inning. 

"Just trying to put the ball in play," he said, per MLB.com. "I was able to get a ball kind of up and out, over, and get enough of it to get it out of there."

The home run marked the 500th hit of Goldschmidt's career. However, he wasn't in the mood to talk about the career milestone after the game since Arizona ended up taking a 3-2 loss.

"Honestly, no," he said when asked if the 500 hits meant anything to him. "I wouldn't have known unless you said something or somebody said something to me after the game. Just out there, we're trying to get wins, and we weren't able to do it tonight."

Diamondbacks first baseman Paul Goldschmidt hit a two-run home run during Wednesday night's 3-2 loss to the Padres. 

Goldschmidt hit his homer in the first inning, which also scored Ender Inciarte. Goldschmidt went 2 of 4 in the game, also hitting a single. His other two at-bats ended in strikeouts. 

The home run was Goldschmidt's third of the season and he now has totaled nine RBI. 

He has a slash line of .344/.447/.656 through Arizona's first nine games of the season. 

Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo hit a two-run home run during Wednesday night's 5-0 win over the Reds. 

Rizzo hit his homer in the first inning, scoring himself and Dexter Fowler. Rizzo finished the game 1 for 4. He now holds a slash line of .240/.429/.360. 

Phillies manager Ryne Sandberg wants to see more production from first baseman Ryan Howard, reports Philly.com.

Howard, who is out of the lineup for Wednesday's game, is scuffling along with a .148 average in 27 at-bats so far this year. Sandberg said although Howard is getting closer to the plate in the batter's box, he needs to be more aggressive when he sees fastballs.

"The amount of fastballs that he's getting, for me he should look fastball and really disregard the breaking ball until he gets two strikes," Sandberg said.

Phillies manager Ryne Sandberg gave struggling first baseman Ryan Howard the night off Wednesday against the Mets, per MLB.com.

Howard went 0 for 3 on Tuesday, starting the season mired in a 4-for-27 slump. He has three doubles, 10 strikeouts and no walks in seven games. He also started the year on a 4-for-27 drought in 2013.

Mets shortstop Wilmer Flores is dealing with a sore hand, but will be able to play in Wednesday's game against the Phillies, reports the Wall Street Journal.

Flores was hit by a pitch in the second inning by David Buchanan, but was able to stay in the game Tuesday. He went 0 for 2 with a run scored and is hitting .160 this season.

Through the Phillies' first seven games, veterans Chase Utley and Ryan Howard are a combined 6 for 43 with no home runs and four RBI.

"It sucks," Howard said of their coinciding slumps, per The Philadelphia Daily News. "Yeah, it sucks. Obviously, we want to get off to a better start. We're what, six or seven games in? It's definitely going to turn around. Nobody plans on trying to get off to a slow start.

"The only thing we can do is keep grinding and keep swinging, try to put together good at-bats. We've had opportunities, you just have to come through in other situations."

This is the worst start of Utley's career, while it is the second worst of Howard's. Utley is 2 for 22 with six strikeouts, two walks and no extra-base hits, while Howard is 4 for 24 with three doubles, eight strikeouts and no walks. In 2013, Howard began the season mired in a 4-for-27 slump.

"It's just a matter of time with Chase," manager Ryne Sandberg said. "I have no worries there. He gets quality at-bats. And no worries there. Chase will be fine. We just need to create some opportunities with men on base for those guys in the middle of the lineup."

Mets general manager Sandy Alderson indicated Monday that he hasn't been completely satisfied with the performance of shortstop Wilmer Flores over the first week of the season, The Star-Ledger reports.

"It hasn't been super," Alderson said about Flores' opening week. "He's made some good plays. He's made some mistakes. He hasn't hit yet, but that's true of about six or seven of our guys. Wilmer is one of those guys that doesn't let things bother him typically. As long as we don't get to the point where we allow that to affect him then I think he'll be fine."

Flores is just 3 for 19 with one double in six games, and he's already made three errors at the shortstop position in just one week of play. The infielder made four errors as a shortstop in 2014 across 443 1/3 innings.

Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard went 0 for 4 with four strikeouts and six men left on base in Sunday's 4-3, 10-inning loss to the Nationals.

"Howie's just looking for some consistency," manager Ryne Sandberg said after the game, per the Philadelphia Daily News. "He was a little bit behind the fastball off of Scherzer. He just didn't connect today, but he continues to work at things. One swing of the bat somewhere in there could have made a difference."

Howard drew a chorus of boos on his fourth strikeout and was removed from the game.

"All I can say is tough game," Howard said. "That's all I got today."

Howard is 3 for 20 with three doubles and seven strikeouts this season.

Diamondbacks first baseman Paul Goldschmidt went 1 for 4 Saturday with a home run and three RBI in Arizona's 6-0 win over the Dodgers.

Goldschmidt snagged his first RBI in the third inning after a fielding error led to A.J. Pollock scoring. Then in the seventh, Goldschmidt ripped the first pitch he saw from Clayton Kershaw to deep left center for a home run, driving in Ender Inciarte.